CheapyD & Best Buy's Extended Warranty

[CheapyD]

Here is the text of an email I sent to the President of Best Buy regarding an very unpleasant experience I had at a Best Buy store this holiday.

Last weekend, I purchased an eMachines M5312 laptop computer at your store on 86th and Lexington Avenue (Store #835) in New York, NY. Based on the response to this email, it may be my last purchase from a Best Buy store.

While my purchase was being rung up, one of your employees (Brian) tried to “sell” me Best Buy’s 3 year extended warranty for $250. Notice how I have placed the word “sell” in quotations. I think “bully” or “berate” would more accurately describe this ordeal that I went through. When I politely refused the warranty, Brian started verbally assaulting me, literally yelling at me, “You are making a big mistake. I guarantee it will break.” I remained calm and simply replied, “no thanks”. Brian then pointed to a section of returned and open box laptops and said, “your laptop will be here soon.” This continued for several minutes, embarrassing myself and my fiancée who was shopping with me. Let me be perfectly clear, this was not a sales process,this was an employee yelling at a customer because he feared there was no commission to be had. Eventually, Brian gave up and became so upset, he had someone else ring up the sale. He then walked away, shouting across the sales floor, “You’ll be back!” Upon leaving the store, I presented my receipt to the employee at the front door, and even he had to make a comment, “Oh, no extended warranty?”

What is going on at your stores? Why are your employees guaranteeing that our products will break? I realize that extended warranties are a profit center for Best Buy, but no customer deserves to be treated this way. I was so upset, I’m not exactly sure why I still purchased the laptop from your store. I guess I didn’t want to have gone through that whole nightmare with nothing to show for it.

I run a popular (video game) shopping discussion website called CheapAssGamer.com and I will most likely be publishing my experience at Best Buy in the next few days, but first, I wanted to give Best Buy a chance to respond. I am looking forward to hearing from you and would be happy to furnish any additional information.
Here is the response I received a few days later:

Thank you for contacting Mr. Mike Keskey at the Best Buy Corporate office. Your email has been received and forwarded to my desk for response. If you could please email me a number that you can be reached or contact me directly at ***-***-****. I look forward to speaking with you.


Thank you,

**** ******
Best Buy
I spoke to the Best Buy representitve a few days later and she was very apologetic. She basically told me that the salespeople are supposed to merely make the customer aware of the Extended Warranty and thats about it. She also mentioned the salespeople do not receive commission (my guess is they may have a quota or goal, though) on Extended Warranties.

When all was said and done, she told me I will be sent a $50 Best Buy gift card for my troubles and that the corporate office will be contacting my local store. I feel that Best Buy did a good job handling my complaint by dealing with it swiftly and by giving me "compensation" for my experience.


EDIT: I added the comic to this post on June 13th, 2006
CAG Comic #1
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/comic/cag1a.jpg


Alternate Ending
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/comic/cag1b.jpg

[OntheDL]

I find violence works better. You should have busted that cat right in his grill and then made sweet sweet love to your fiancée in front of him. That would have learned him good.

[CheapyD]

Good suggestion.

I also thought about purchasing the extended warranty and then smacking him over the head with the laptop and then asking, "Is this covered, biatch?"

[OntheDL]

That too would have been good and you probably still would have received the 50 bucks because Brain would never admit to getting waffled with a laptop.

[punqsux]

wow its nice to see something about best buy not suck for once, the best buy i usually go to in pittsburgh never has anyone intelligent enough to comprehend what a gcc is, it always takes 10-15 mins to check out after i re-explain and get rung up about 6 times

[DRJ555]

I would have asked for a manager right there and read them the riot act. Sounds like a very bad sales person that needs to be canned. I have been offered several extended warrantees and when I say no thanks, that's always been the end of it. The only extended warranty I have ever bought from BB was for my GBA-SP since it was only $10 and I was saving $5 with the GGC I figured what the hell.

[punqsux]

I also thought about purchasing the extended warranty and then smacking him over the head with the laptop and then asking, "Is this covered, biatch?"

*sigh* such seperates men and legends

[Wshakspear]

Good suggestion.

I also thought about purchasing the extended warranty and then smacking him over the head with the laptop and then asking, "Is this covered, biatch?" :shock:

Thanks for the laugh this morning...i needed that.
:D

[bluetoast]

Good suggestion.

I also thought about purchasing the extended warranty and then smacking him over the head with the laptop and then asking, "Is this covered, biatch?"

LOL!

[WhipSmartBanky]

Good suggestion.

I also thought about purchasing the extended warranty and then smacking him over the head with the laptop and then asking, "Is this covered, biatch?"

...

BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHA...a man after my own heart. Although, I probably would've added, "PWNED!" afterward.

[E-Z-B]

wow its nice to see something about best buy not suck for once, the best buy i usually go to in pittsburgh never has anyone intelligent enough to comprehend what a gcc is, it always takes 10-15 mins to check out after i re-explain and get rung up about 6 times

I hear ya, punqsux. Everytime I try it, I'm subjected to the same Best Buy incompetence that most people suffer. However, they usually only have to rering it 4 times for me after typing in some stupid code 20 times until they realize that it doesn't work, then try something else.

I wonder if Best Buy gets a tax write-off for hiring dumbasses that meet some low IQ test score? Anyone have to take an IQ test to work at Best Buy?

[jmcc]

It's not just you, CheapyD. Best Buy employees (at the store nearest me anyway) are some of the most duplicitous salespeople I've ever seen. Some fun facts I've gleaned from them:

1. To a woman shopping with her younger son: A Direct X upgrade message requires a new video card to fix.
2. To an elderly couple: A warranty is really a given on a dvd player, because the new lasers they're using to read dvds are so hot they were known to melt discs inside of them.
3. My personal experience: when I went to buy an Xbox they tried to sell me a memory card back in the games area, then that salesman followed me to the register up front and then called the manager over at which point 3 people were trying to badger me into getting a memory card. I explained to them "no, I know it has a hard drive and a memory card is useless" to which the manager told me (paraphrasing a little here) "you know that Microsoft is going to start online games soon, right? Well, when you install that software it defrags your hard drive and you lose your saves. The only way around it is to either get a memory card or send your console to Microsoft so they can defrag it for you. It will cost 120 dollars plus shipping both ways." My friend and I were wide-eyed and mouths gaping at this point. I refused again and the manager gave me a sigh and head shake then walked away, like I was making a huge mistake. Needless to say, I called the corporate office like CheapyD did and they send me a gift card for 50 dollars also, so I'm guessing it's enough of a wide spread phenomenon that they have a standard drill for dealing with it.

Anyway, the next big purchase I go in for there I'm thinking of having some fun. "Sure, I'll get the warranty...if you can tell me why I need one without using the letter 'e'."

[minx]

actually, in my experience with bestbuy, their products ARE guaranteed to break.

With the exception of a microwave, it hasn't failed me yet-- everything breaks

To make matters worse, they're not real good about keeping the receipts on file like they claim they are when you do by the extended warranty

I got shafted on my PS/2 extended warranty, because they refused to honor it as their computer lost the record and I didn't have the receipt -- despite having the exact date of purchase, approximate time, and even the offer to contact my bank for their records of the purchase. Fortunately, Sony fixed my PS/2 for free , but had a broken slightly earlier the wouldn't have as this was in the beginning of their"free repair" program and you really had to negotiate hard to get it.

Now remember that PS/2 extended warranty bestbuy said didn't exist, because it's important

From the same store, I bought in xbox on launch day -- with the extended warranty.

when it broke down, they were able to locate its warranty with great difficulty -- but at least they were able to do so, and momentarily restored myfaith

when the voucher arrived for a new system, it was stamped "PS/2 extended warranty replacement"

In other words, it was never really lost at all, although it kind of makes me wonder what happened to my xbox warranty ;-)

[Theenternal]

CheapyD Best buy employees do get commission a few of my friends have worked for them, unless they just changed their policy. Also with all the walmart scaming going on... Im not saying its the right thing to do, but I sure wish I could rip off best buy a few times, I hate that place.

[ryan838]

I work at best buy. Nobody gets paid on commission. The regular employees dont get shit for selling replacement plans or services. Managers however do get bonuses for good numbers in their departments. So us salespeople are constantly being told by the higher ups that we need to sell that crap even though we don't get anything for it. At the store I work at the people in media have to keep scorecards. So if I make a sale of $150 or more I get 1pt. If I sell cd storage I get 2 pts. If I sell a service I can get anywhere from 5-10pts depending on the service. What do these points mean you might ask. They tell us the person with the most pts gets our name on some trophy and we get a couple free dvds. However, thats bullshit. Its been 3 months and no trophy. Also because I think its bullshit to try and push services onto people when they aren't interested I don't get many hours. The people that score the highest get more hours. They are also using the scorecards to determine who gets to keep their jobs once the season is up. The supervisors also do customer service evaluations on us. The last one I had done to me I got a poor score because I didn't ask the guy what type of internet he had so I could sell him gamefly even though he said he was just looking around and didn't want any help.

"I wonder if Best Buy gets a tax write-off for hiring dumbasses that meet some low IQ test score? Anyone have to take an IQ test to work at Best Buy? "
While the majority of the people there are stupid not all of us are. I am only working there to help pay for college.

[CaseyRyback]

yea everything I buy from there gets a warranty after my DVD player (200 bucks) broke with not only one type, but I even switched to a diffrent brand and it broke

[pfunkpearl]

I used to work there, we never recieved any commision. This was back in 95-96. however they leaned on the employees about selling them and gave "prizes" sometimes for selling the most usually it was praise and a cd. They also determined the employees being employeed as well. non performers were let go regularly. plus the store meeting were also nothing more but a management bulying the employees into selling the damn things.

[bluetoast]

Hehe ryan, so next time I'm at Best Buy and someone asks me for a rebate, can I say (no offence intended to you, but to other Best Buy employees yes)

"How many points is that? 2? Got the trophy yet?"

and will they get mad or embarrased at that?

[ryan838]

"I used to work there, we never recieved any commision. This was back in 95-96. however they leaned on the employees about selling them and gave "prizes" sometimes for selling the most usually it was praise and a cd. They also determined the employees being employeed as well. non performers were let go regularly. plus the store meeting were also nothing more but a management bulying the employees into selling the damn things. "

I work there now and its great to know nothings changed.

[nba4life2k]

I currently work for bestbuy. we do not get anything for selling warranties. we do get praise from our supervisors though.

[jalu6]

i bought my ps2 at best buy a year ago last june, and the woman who tried to sell me the extended warantee explained that I would get credit from it to put towards the PS3, which would come out September 2002.

I really hope her day job isnt working at Sony.

[XxFuRy2Xx]

Good suggestion.

I also thought about purchasing the extended warranty and then smacking him over the head with the laptop and then asking, "Is this covered, biatch?"Well be ready next time you go to best buy and bring a camera along. This would certainly qualify as a kodak moment.

[YoshiFan1]

Sounds like you had better luck with writing a letter to Best Buy than I did.

Last year when Best Buy had those Nintendo coupon booklets out and 1 coupon said "$5.00 of any Interact video game accessory" with a picture of a GCN to GBA link cable on the coupon.

I picked up a $2.99 Interact GBA case, and handed the cashier the coupon, she said it only applies to certain accessories. I asked to see the manager and he said I couldn't use it on that item. I wrote a complaint letter typing word for word that the coupon had no restrictions and it said ANY Interact accessory.

What was Best Buy's answer? That sometimes manufacturer's coupons only apply to certain items and if the manager said the coupon was not valid on that item, that was the end of it.

It was a Best Buy coupon, not a manufacturer's coupon and they ignored how I pointed out there were no restrictions on what the coupon could be used for other than it had to be an Interact accessory.

I didn't feel like writing back over a $3 item but it was the principle of it that got me very annoyed. I am guessing the manager and cashier didn't want me to get a free item even though I was entitled to with the coupon.

[hardwo0d]

Cheapy, I woked at Best Buyt for over 2 1/2 years and let me tell you this guy was probably a supervisor or senior in that department. We did not receive any commision, the pay there is straight hourly, but the constant harassmant by managers is what caused this. Most of the employees there do not even believe in the "PSP" or extended warranty. In my personal experience leave or quit Best Buy, because they could not take any more of the harassment. from the managers if they did not sell enough of these. I left that place over a year ago once I graduated from college and to this day I still dont walk in there; I go to CC. Here are a few tips for avoiding these Best Buy tirades.


1. Buy it online and have it shipped to you.

2. Go when it is busy, throughout the sales process tell him that you do want it. When you get to the register tell the register person that you dont want it anymore.

3. Tell them that you are a specialist in whatever youre buying. Tell them that you repair them for a liiving and that you are actually contracted by that company to do in home repair

4. NEVER, tell them you dont want it before they actually go and "look" for the product , becuase when they come back they will say "we dont have it"

[ps2jin]

haha....what i trip.....you deserve more than $50 for that story cheapy

[WAJedi]

When I bought my $70.00 car CD player they told me to give this to the cashier when I checked out. I didnt look at it and I thought it was just like the rebate information. I get up there and check out and my total was like 170.00. I asked where that extra 100.00 was from and they said it was the warranty. I then proceeded to ask them why I would want a 100.00 warranty on a 70.00 CD player. He just kind of stared at me and took the warranty off.

[robdees]

As a current BB employee (I teach fulltime and work at BB for the discount) I can echo the fact that we do not work on commishion but we are "encouraged" to set our customers up with PSP and PRP's when possible. We, of course, receive no recompense for this. In your situation, Cheapy, the salesperson was totally out of line, however, as a computers associate I can say that the only time I really preach the benefits of service is on a laptop. This is based primarialy on the fact that your batteries stand a good chance of decreased performance over the three years, if not outright failure and BB will replace them for you ($180-300 value). Your salesperson should have made the benefits clear to you and allowed you to make your own choice, bullying never helps anyone and it's just plain bad business. By the way, fantastic site! I've thoroughly enjoyed my short time here.

[bmulligan]

here's my $.02 on Best Buy and their Warranty's:

I bought a TV on november 18th and paid with my Best Buy card. I also purchased the extended in-home warranty for $249.00. They did not have my TV in stock and it was to arrive on December 22. When I picked it up I inquired about the warranty beginning on 11-18, the date of purchase. (I had plenty of time to re-read my reciept while waiting in the customer service line) I asked them to change the warranty to begin on Dec. 22, (the day I picked it up) and they refused. They said the day of purchase starts the warranty, not the ship date.

My explanation to the manager was that even though I paid for the TV on 11-18, the transaction was not complete until they delivered the goods. Legally, they can't offer a warranty on merchandise they haven't provided. This all fell on deaf ears and the manager offered to return the TV if I didn't like their policy.

Sorry this is so long winded, but the point is this: What if they backordered my TV for another 2 or 3 months? I'm paying on a credit card for a TV I don't have, and using warranty on an item that's never been delivered to me. If anything goes wrong with this TV they will be getting multiple service calls from me, and perhaps even a replacement TV under their "lemon" policy.

Has anyone else ever had to deal with Best Buy warranty service? Now I'm afraid, very afraid.

[guessed]

here's my $.02 on Best Buy and their Warranty's:

I bought a TV on november 18th and paid with my Best Buy card. I also purchased the extended in-home warranty for $249.00. They did not have my TV in stock and it was to arrive on December 22. When I picked it up I inquired about the warranty beginning on 11-18, the date of purchase. (I had plenty of time to re-read my reciept while waiting in the customer service line) I asked them to change the warranty to begin on Dec. 22, (the day I picked it up) and they refused. They said the day of purchase starts the warranty, not the ship date.

My explanation to the manager was that even though I paid for the TV on 11-18, the transaction was not complete until they delivered the goods. Legally, they can't offer a warranty on merchandise they haven't provided. This all fell on deaf ears and the manager offered to return the TV if I didn't like their policy.

Sorry this is so long winded, but the point is this: What if they backordered my TV for another 2 or 3 months? I'm paying on a credit card for a TV I don't have, and using warranty on an item that's never been delivered to me. If anything goes wrong with this TV they will be getting multiple service calls from me, and perhaps even a replacement TV under their "lemon" policy.

Has anyone else ever had to deal with Best Buy warranty service? Now I'm afraid, very afraid.

The manager was bluffing. If I were you, I would call them up now and get them to change the date. If they refuse, tell them they can pick it up and give you a full refund. "Why would I get a warranty for an item I do not yet own?"

[pukemon]

i'm starting to get ticked off at the incompetence of bb employees myself. and the 2 cc's near me are a catastrophe. pretty soon i'm going to have to find a new place to shop.

[Tespo125]

Nowadays they ask if you'd like a 2 Year Extended Warranty on a $20 PS2 controller! And the best part is, the warranty is an extra $8! I mean WTF?!

[drfrielgood]

I'm also currently a college student employed at a Best Buy. I'm a cashier and we get goals set for the product replacement plans that we sell. It usually works out to about $15/hour worth. I'm probably towards the lower end of the spectrum for sales because I tell the customer about the replacement plan and if he/she says no, I accept it and refuse to harass or piss off a customer. This is probably why I've only worked 6 hours per week over my Christmas break, and it's pretty hard to live on $40 per week, even with my parents paying my bills. We receive no commission for selling the plans and the only thing employees receive is praise from a supervisor and their name at the top of the dry erase board. While it is a good idea to get the replacement plans on video game systems, controllers, and phones, I really wouldn't recommend it on much else.

[drfrielgood]

I don't care for our replacement plans too much, but the $5.99/2yr one for controllers isn't a bad deal. As a cashier I've been told that even if the buttons start to stick you can use the warranty to get a voucher for the purchase price back. And since there's no way to tell the difference between controllers, you could theoretically return your 4 year old PS2 controller in the box of the one you just bought last week.

[frap]

I love to hear people on this forum complain about the crappy service at BB or CC or whatever. Or how the employees at retailers are so "stupid."

You allow stupid employees to be hired because you shop at the stores regardless of the service quality. I bet that if next week Best Buy had, say, Prince of Persia for $14.99 most of you would be there to buy it, even if the employees aren't as smart as you are.

If you want good service, go to a local independent game store. Yes, you will probably pay more, but at least then you don't have to post messages about "stupid" employees on this forum. If you want to be a real cheap ass, however, just deal with the crappy service as a cost of doing business.

CheapyD: In your case, the service was poor by any standard. I'm not trying to defend the employee you encountered. I'm glad they resolved it to your satisfaction.

[bfg9k]

Here is my way of getting out of hearing the extended warranty pitch: I tell the salesperson that the item I am buying is a gift. It usually shuts them up pretty quick. The one time it didn't, was at best buy when I bought myself a laptop! :) The guy went on for ten minutes trying to get me to buy a $200 extended warrenty for my "brother's" laptop. In all honesty, if you are going to use a laptop battery a lot, an extended warranty is not a bad idea. But in my case, I rarely use the battery, and even if I did , I would just exchange it for another one at work ;)

[CheapyD]

Thanks for all the comments...

Next time, I'm just whipping out my CheapAssGamer.com business card (yes, I really do have them, they cost about $30 for 250)

That should shut them up pretty fast.

[SneakyPenguin]

wow, ive never had any problems with best buy EVER. My parents got a tv there as did I, and we were both offered the extended warranty. When we declined, that was the end of it. it was never brought up again. maybe im just lucky ::jinxed:: crap

[CheapyD]

My $50 gift card arrived yesterday.

[bmulligan]

Next time, I'm just whipping out my CheapAssGamer.com business card (yes, I really do have them, they cost about $30 for 250)


You're paying too much for those. I get mine from Vistaprint.com.
250 cards for about $7.00. Granted, they're not fancy, but they get the job done for my cheap ass.

[bradr]

The Best Buy closest to me is CRAZY. I think many of them are, so it must come down from corporate. This one (Reston,VA) had someone arrested for writing prices down for comparison shopping (on TVs). The cops actually came and arrested him. I had a little run-in also but didn't get arrested, although I felt that they had their fingers on the 911 speed dial the whole time.

I went to buy the gamer cards with the $5 coupon. I wasn't even being a cheapass, I wanted $10 a piece on them (5 gcs). The woman who rang me out told me I couldn't put only $10 on it because it's a $5 off $20 coupon. "Ok, how about $11?", I asked. She said no. I told her it's a gift card and I should be able to put any denomination I wanted on there. She runs off without saying a word and about 10 minutes later comes back and huffily tells me, "You can only get 1". I told her that was ridiculous and I had never heard of any store refusing to sell gift cards to their customers before. She calls the manager over and I have to argue with both of them for five minutes. I finally raise my voice (luckily, I have a pretty loud voice). Finally, the manager says 'just do it' and runs off. The cashier then rings my purchase up on that big yellow piece of paper where you have to fill out your info. I just put some random crap down for my info. I'm sure the cops would have been knocking on my door if I had left the correct info. The story gets even more bizarre. After I leave Best Buy, as I was walking to my car, some random woman gives me this look of contempt and demands $5. She doesn't ask, she just says, "Give me five dollars". I said no and she gave me a death stare (honest!). I don't know where she came up with that figure. Usually people who ask for money go for $1 or two but who would just give someone on the street $5? I don't think she particularly had anything to do with BB but since she was in their parking lot I lumped it in.

[CheapyD]

Next time, I'm just whipping out my CheapAssGamer.com business card (yes, I really do have them, they cost about $30 for 250)


You're paying too much for those. I get mine from Vistaprint.com.
250 cards for about $7.00. Granted, they're not fancy, but they get the job done for my cheap ass.

Thats where I got mine too. They are black on both sides and have the cheap ass gamer colors on them. It was getting the back to be black that drove the price up. That price included shipping too.

[evilmax17]

Hey Cheapy, can you put a scan of the business card up?

[bang4dabuc]

I've witnessed and have been victim to the best buy extended warrenty deceptions.

- I heard the girl at the register claim that if a guy buys the extended warrenty for PS2, he will automatically be upgraded to PS3 when it comes out in 6 months (this was last christmas).

- At the same best buy, I saw a sales person trying to convince a woman to buy the warrenty on a Gamecube, she refused 3 times and he kept pestering her until she finally agreed.

- I purchased a shaver for my father for Father's day several years back and the clerk told me the extended warrenty covers replacement blades and covers. When I got home, I read the agreement and it states that the warrenty does not cover wear and tear from daily use.

- (Non-warrenty related) One woman wanted to buy and Xbox, but didn't know if it would be compatible with her television. She described her TV as having two connections, one for video, and one for audio (mono). When she asked if her TV would support Xbox, the sales person said she would need to purchase the high definition pack ($50). I jumped in and told her to just plug one end of the supplied cable instead of wasting her money. The sales person gave me a look and walked away.

Reasons like this are why I refuse to go to Best Buy for anything other than DVDs. All my electronics are purchased at Circuit City because the sales people there are more honest. They either know what they are talking about, or will find someone who knows.

[HeartBurn Kid]

Fortunately, in my local Best Buy, they're rather apathetic about the warranty (I haven't had that kind of pressure applied to me yet), but if I were in CheapyD's shoes, I would say, "If this thing is such a piece of crap that it's GUARANTEED to break, I don't want it. Go put it back, I'm taking my business elsewhere."

Why should anybody have to put up with that kind of treatment?

[daphatty]

4. NEVER, tell them you dont want it before they actually go and "look" for the product , becuase when they come back they will say "we dont have it"

Now THAT is some shady shit! :shock:

[The-Bavis]

I agree with HeartburnKid. I have vowed to not return to BB unless there's a real deal going on. At the time of purchase, if they lambast me about the warranty again, I'm planning to tell them I'll buy it from a place that sells quality products. They tried to convince me my GC was a POS when I bought it and the laser was going to go bad on it. After that, I swore of the place. I should have stopped going when the 32" TV I bought had to be returned b/c its tube was just totally dorked up. This happened twice. They were surprised when I didn't want to pick up a third one and haul it up a flight of stairs to see if I actually got a working TV. CC got my money (more actually b/c I bought a better TV there) thanks to BB's strangely crappy TV quality.

[Lint21]

Lots of interesting stories in this thread... thanks for posting them.

However, you are not alone or unique. You are not a precious snowflake. There are legions of others like you.

Visit http://www.bestbuysux.org for some fascinating insight into the seedy world of BB.

[sandrockgundam219]

dude you might wanna edit out your name, it's in the letter he sent you back, you edited the end of it but it's in the body of the message, Mike.

[Lint21]

LOLOOOLLLOMGOMGROFLMAO WTF CHEEAPYDS NAME IS MIKE!!@@!!!1

BWWAAAHAHAHAHA!!!@11

Oh wait, no. That's the Best Buy guy's name.

Blast!

Curse you all!

[bmulligan]

I talked to my sister today who used to work at BB a few years back. She told me about the managers who would write up sales at the regular price, rewrite them for less money and add the warranty after the customer left the store. all done so that they would get the commission bump.

[RedvsBlue]

I've got a funny Best Buy service plan story for ya. I used to be a cashier and due to my unwillingness to annoy the customer (similar to the other person who replied about working there) I sold very few replacement plans (PRPs). One day I get a customer who's buying a cordless phone and I do my regular simple question of "are you interested in our replacement plan for this item" to which I recieved a no.

Well my supervisor overheard this and decided that he needs to jump in and save the sale. So he starts his pitch and I'm standing there looking at the line growing to 5 people... Anyway he gets to his usual part about the replacement plan covering the cordless phone battery and which point I grabbed another brochure and pointed out to him AND the customer where it specifically states it does not cover batteries (PRPs are different from extended service plans in a few ways, batteries being one of them). Giving me eyes-of-fire he completely ignore what I said and ends up unsuccessfully saving the sale (big surprise). Anyway after the customer leaves he tells me to finish ringing up the people in my line and to come to the admin office.

When I get back there I not only got written up (not fired) but also got sent home early (didn't want to work that day anyway!)! I thought it was quite amusing and was actually smiling when I walked out the door. When I got home I went to the casino and as if the anti-BB gods were smiling upon me even further, I won more money at the casino than I would have earned by working out the rest of my shift, plus my parents bought me dinner!

[chrisp450]

I got shafted on my PS/2 extended warranty, because they refused to honor it as their computer lost the record and I didn't have the receipt -- despite having the exact date of purchase, approximate time, and even the offer to contact my bank for their records of the purchase. Fortunately, Sony fixed my PS/2 for free , but had a broken slightly earlier the wouldn't have as this was in the beginning of their"free repair" program and you really had to negotiate hard to get it.

Now remember that PS/2 extended warranty bestbuy said didn't exist, because it's important

From the same store, I bought in xbox on launch day -- with the extended warranty.

when it broke down, they were able to locate its warranty with great difficulty -- but at least they were able to do so, and momentarily restored myfaith

when the voucher arrived for a new system, it was stamped "PS/2 extended warranty replacement"

In other words, it was never really lost at all, although it kind of makes me wonder what happened to my xbox warranty ;-)

Just to straighten a few things out...When Xbox first came around they used the PS2 SKU for the warranty..This is why when you got the voucher it said PS2...it did not matter that the system was an xbox, it would have shown that either way.

One thing I gotta ask is why everyone thinks it is the stores responsibility to keep a reciept? You need to realize that these stores have thousands, probably millions of customers every year. Best Buy DOES keep receipts on record for people who use credit cards, or checks...but as it says in the return policy, "Please keep your receipt. A receipt is required for all returns/exchanges."
I can tell you that if you get the right person (like me for instance) I can use different search systems that other employees either don't know how to use, or don't have access to.

Although I agree with what a lot of people have said about the employees being idiots...yes their are many of them...probably the majority...I guess I am in the minority. (obviously yes, I am an employee...I am not advocating anything that best buy does or does not do...but I can tell you that while some of the opinions in this thread have validity, many are not close).
My 2 cents.

[ngamer007]

$50?! Sweet. :D

[bignick]

I have only bought a coulpe of extended warrenties. They have been from friends though. I got $30 off a camera from manimal, then bought the $30 extended warrenty. I will do that. I pay the same price, and my friends get a little something extra in their checks.

[drfrielgood]

Best Buy workers do not receive commission on ANY sales.

[CheapyD]

Best Buy workers do not receive commission on ANY sales.
Yes, that is what the Best Buy Corporate CSR told me.

[davidmt]

For the last few months, when you buy something at BestBuy you "automatically qualify" for 8 free issues of Sports Illustrated or Entertainment Weekly.

If you don't get pressured for an extended warranty you get this great offer. And they don't even ask you if you want it or not -- its "which one would you like?"

Yeah sure okay.

[jer7583]

I went to buy a new xbox a few weeks back and the cashier was pretty cool, talking about how his xbox is modded and everything.. then he tries to sell me the warranty thing. This is what I found completely unbelievable.. He said that when the next Xbox or PS3 or whatever comes out, I could bring that xbox in and get the same value back toward the next Xbox or whatever. Is that actually true? I didn't buy the warranty cause it sounded like bs to get me to buy it.

[crazytalkx]

It worked for my CD player. I had a 100$ walkman which I got a warranty for and once it messed up I took it back to Best Buy and they gave me store credit towards a better CD player.

[Michaellvortega]

I went to buy a new xbox a few weeks back and the cashier was pretty cool, talking about how his xbox is modded and everything.. then he tries to sell me the warranty thing. This is what I found completely unbelievable.. He said that when the next Xbox or PS3 or whatever comes out, I could bring that xbox in and get the same value back toward the next Xbox or whatever. Is that actually true? I didn't buy the warranty cause it sounded like bs to get me to buy it.

I did that when PS2 came out. I brought in my dreamcast on PS2 release day and used the credit to buy a PS2. Now BB managers where pissed but they didnt have a Dreamcast to give me so they had now choice. I work at Compusa and it is the same Bull as BB. You can sell $20,000 worth of stuff a week(and that is a software persons goal) and management will be pissy because only a hand full of people bought a replacment plan. Not to mention when they get mad no one wants to buy$250 tap on a $600 laptop. Retail is stupid but everyone should work it at least once to learn to respect other people and not be a fool.

[doraemonkerpal]

wow, that's great you got something out of the horrendous service cheapyd! last time i sent them a letter (which i thought was supposed to be more professional), nobody answered my complaint at all! jerks :(

[emceelokey]

I used to work at Gamestop and, among many reasons, the "pressure" sales is one of the reasons why I left. With Gamestop they wanted us to get somewhere areound 10% in reservations and GayInformer subscriptions per week. This was basically 1 per every 10 transactions. What always angered me was that I was always the one doing all of the dialy shipments and actually doing work in the store. Everyone else didn't do shit but stand behind the register and take up space. I didn't want to spend 20 minutes trying to sell a sub to someone that didn't even speak english while the line is 8 people long. I want to get them out as fast as possible. this resulted in me having around 40-50 transactions a day compared to the store managers and assistant managers combined total of 35 or so per day. I'm doing more transactions and taking in more money than anyone in the store but because i don't get the numbers I'm all of a sudden the one that's holding the store back. Not only that but we get nothing for a sub or res. Not only that but after the corporate office send us an email saying that the company made 250 million in profits last year 2 weeks later the send an email saying that the employee discount is going down another 5%. I hate having to "pressure" sale to anyone and there is never any "pressure" sale that is truely just for the benefit of the consumer. It's always so that the employee can get a free crappy thing or look, better so that they can get a better raise (in which they won't in the longrun) or so that the store manager can kiss the district managers ass so that the dm can make threats that if they don't do good some bullshit will happen.

[radjago]

4. NEVER, tell them you dont want it before they actually go and "look" for the product , becuase when they come back they will say "we dont have it"

Now THAT is some shady shit! :shock:

When I worked at BB, my supervisor told me to say that to the customer or he would.

Shady shit, indeed.

[dpatel]

haha. great comic. I like the alternate ending better. I feel like doing that sometimes.

[Graystone]

haha. great comic. I like the alternate ending better. I feel like doing that sometimes.

When I bought my NGC from there the lady ringing me out was like you want a warranty. No thanks but if you don't by a warranty the NGC will shoot flying disc's of death at you. oh thanks. That was the very last time I went in a BB.

[Skylander7]

I love to hear people on this forum complain about the crappy service at BB or CC or whatever. Or how the employees at retailers are so "stupid."

You allow stupid employees to be hired because you shop at the stores regardless of the service quality. I bet that if next week Best Buy had, say, Prince of Persia for $14.99 most of you would be there to buy it, even if the employees aren't as smart as you are.

If you want good service, go to a local independent game store. Yes, you will probably pay more, but at least then you don't have to post messages about "stupid" employees on this forum. If you want to be a real cheap ass, however, just deal with the crappy service as a cost of doing business.

CheapyD: In your case, the service was poor by any standard. I'm not trying to defend the employee you encountered. I'm glad they resolved it to your satisfaction.

I kind of disagree with this.. this particular case is about corporate retail chains preying on customers with false warranty plans. In most of these cases, the opportunity costs alone of going out of the way to resolve a defective product through a CC, Sears, or Best Buy warranty exceeds the price of the warranty. Much of the time, these retailers won't even repair the product and state some kind of loophole. It's nothing more than extra revenue in their pocket to tack on to the sale price.

Also, the corporate chain of command focuses more on training employees to sell than training employees about the products that they sell. For corporate retailers to boast such an attitude of customer service and neglect to train them in the field to instead focus on and pressure the employees to suggestively sell is deceptive merchant practices.

Quite the contrary, I never get sick of the bad stories about BB, Gamestop, CC, etc. I believe that it's much more of a real reflection of the company's retail practices and corporate philosophy. IMO, I think legislation should be passed to restrict the sale of these so-called warranties. If you were to go by contract law, every instance in which a retail chain did not completely replace the product or compensate the buyer in an equitable fashion would be held in breach of contract.

Cheapy, I believe the power of the press (or web presence in this case) helped a little in this case. I only wish that you would have thrown in the name of the site and number of registered users/daily hits. At least some sort equitable response was given in this case, and it'd be great if an exec. actually did call and you posted the convo. here.

[CheapyD]

Cheapy, I believe the power of the press (or web presence in this case) helped a little in this case. I only wish that you would have thrown in the name of the site and number of registered users/daily hits. At least some sort equitable response was given in this case, and it'd be great if an exec. actually did call and you posted the convo. here. Check the end of the OP again, that's pretty much exactly what happened (sans the registered users/hits stats).

[psiufoxx2]

Thanks for all the comments...

Next time, I'm just whipping out my CheapAssGamer.com business card (yes, I really do have them, they cost about $30 for 250)

That should shut them up pretty fast.

Holy garbage! That's awesome.

[encendido5]

Cool, Cheapy shops (or used to shop) at the same BB I shop at. Maybe I'll see you there sometime.

[CheapyD]

Cool, Cheapy shops (or used to shop) at the same BB I shop at. Maybe I'll see you there sometime.Not likely as I haven't been back since. The last time I purchased anything at Best Buy was to spend the aforementioned $50 gift card.

[-Phantom-]

I have also been harassed to purchase an extended warranty there. Mine was particularly confrontational because I was purchasing an item that fell victim to a pricing error. Needless to say he was quite irate at my little find. His negligence was compensation enough for me though. :-)

[encendido5]

Not likely as I haven't been back since. The last time I purchased anything at Best Buy was to spend the aforementioned $50 gift card.

I guess I'll have to look for you at the Circuit City on 86th then :D

[Ilovephysics]

Interesting read, especially after all this time has passed. I've generally found such practices annoying, but I understand that it really isn't the employees fault, per say, so I normally laugh it off... they want to keep their job, so they have to do it... as they get more desperate to keep their job, it makes for a lessened shopping experience... at which time they'll be replaced by a less threatening person who can get away with pushing said warranties, etc., in a more effective manner.

Personally, I really only mind it when an employee blatantly lies to the customer... Often these are hard to prove, and certainly can be passed off as 'mistakes', especially if the sales clerk always has the manager to fall back on and take the heat for said 'mistake' (who, obviously, will 'protect' any employee that is selling such items/warranties that make the manager look good)... However, I would guess that most of the times, I would agree it is just an employee who is not well-trained in the products that they are selling, and only trained in the services that the store had to offer.

[Deadpool]

I never understood why people buy warranties anyways. If the item breaks just re buy it and return the defective one for a refund. They just send it back to the company for credit anyways.

[minos1067]

I never understood why people buy warranties anyways. If the item breaks just re buy it and return the defective one for a refund. They just send it back to the company for credit anyways.

but most of the time the reciept is tied to the serial number of the product you bought. just saying.

[Cmosfm]

Not likely as I haven't been back since. The last time I purchased anything at Best Buy was to spend the aforementioned $50 gift card.

Stupid question...

...what did you spend it on? ;)

[jlarlee]

i only get these on VCRs. With young kids I go through VCrs like wildfire. I got two replacements out of one warranty through sears

[CheapyD]

Stupid question...

...what did you spend it on? ;)I believe I spent it on a Dual Shock 2 and a PS2 Memory Card... really exciting ;)

[plastikpyro]

Working at best buy is like selling cars. there's alot of pressure from the "SUP" and "MOD" to make numbers. If you don't, you'll end up working late hours unloading trucks and "laser lining" the inventory on the upper shelf.
I use to work at Best Buy Costa Mesa CA in Computer Sales (PCHO) and the tactics used to sell Service Plans or often refered to as "Cheese" were very ruthless. Yes it's true that the job is non commission based which is why they tell you to use the "non-commision" statement to break the ice. And during the entire sales speach you bring up the warranty and how you're there to inform/protect the customer and that you're on their side since you don't work on commission.

Example: Hello sir/ma'am, Just to let you know, we don't work on comission here so I can offer you the best service possible without any hassle. If you need any help just ask and I'll be glad to help.
What they don't tell you is that we're all on a quota per month with reflects our bi-annual/annual review that determines how much of a pay raise you get.

Tactics Used:
1) Tell the customer that the Performance Service Plan (warranty) is hassle free. Simply take in the defective item and walk out with a replacement equal to or better.
What they don't tell you is they have to send it away to the manufacture 3 times for repairs before they give you a replacement.

2)Tell the customer that the item is not instock/back ordered/Defective if the warranty is refused. This is commonly used on computers or laptops with minimal profit margins.

3)Always recommend accessories ie: ink cartridges,printer cables, usb, bags, etc. This is where the biggest profit is. You'll often witness unknowing customers walking around with a cart full of shit they don't need because the salesman piles it in there and tells them its "necessary" to have everything working when they get home. The we asked the customer was "Don't you want to use the computer/printer/scanner when you get home?"

4)Tell the customer that the item that they are interested in, usually the item on sale in the ad, is complete junk or the company is going out of business, or has poor product support, then bump them into something more expensive.

5)The hand off aka."turn over"...This is when the original sales person is unable to close the sale on the PSP. They would hand off to another sales person, then the supervisor, then the cashier. This was most likely what CheapyD experienced that day. This is usually initiated by the sales person saying "I have an idea, I'll be right back " leave, come back and introduce you to another sales person and say "I have to go take care of some business but by friend Mr.XXX will take care of you"

*Some small advice:
The Service plan is refundable within the first 15 days of purchase. You can buy it to get the sales people off your back and then return it next day. They hate it when you return the PSP because it makes them look bad.
The PSP and PRP are 2 completely different converages. The 2 yr. Product Replacement Plan isn't half bad because within the first year you can replace the item "in-store" hassle free. Just as long as you have the reciept witht he plan on it. Anything after the first year is sent away.

[Cmosfm]

3)Always recommend accessories ie: ink cartridges,printer cables, usb, bags, etc. This is we're the biggest profit is. You'll often witness unknowing customers walking around with a cart full of shit they don't need because the salesman piles it in there and tells them its "necessary" to have everything working when they get home.


About 5 years ago my mom got suckered into a stinkin' 30.00 Monster Audio cable when she was buying me a stand alone CD Burner. Thing is, to use the burner, I REALLY didn't even need the cable!

I felt so bad after they suckered her into that, I still find random uses for it to this day just so I can get some use out of my mom's money. :(

[Farny]

My family tends to purchase service plans, especially for TV's. We also tend to make them worth it, as we've had our TV repaired twice. I guess that covers the whopping $250. Maybe I should drop it again and get it replaced.

[Darkpaul]

haha. This is funny stuff seeing how many current and ex employees of best buy are posting here (I, too, am a veteran of the best buy bullshit).

I was so saddened to see what kind of people were there. I saw the tool (sell, sell, sell for the company!), a few overall cool people and still others who got brainwashed by their morning meetings (yes, folks, they have meetings every morning before store opens to bullshit about numbers of the day before). All of their meetings were a joke. I by no means consider myself a smart person, but their clear attempt at little more than holding a pocketwatch in front of me screaming, "Sell those accessories!" just didn't get me motivated to give a SHIT about a $6.50/hr job.

FYI, there was a website called bestbuysux.org dunno if it still works or not.

[TC]

1) Tell the customer that the warranty is hassle free. Simply take in the defective item and walk out with a replacement equal to or better.
What they don't tell you is they have to send it away to the manufacture 3 times for repairs before they give you a replacement.


Exactamundo and one of the reasons I never buy shit from Worst Buy. Better off getting stuff from Circuit City. Two wireless Logitech Xbox controllers I bought from CC were defective out of box. I walked back into CC explained my situation gave the controllers to the rep along with my reciept and walked out with two brand new controllers. I would have spent three times as long at BB just waiting in line to talk to a clerk.

Here is a funny one. Went with my friend so he could purchase a closeout TV over at BB. The salesman comes over and asks if he could help us. My friend goes "I'll take that TV right there and if you try to sell me some warranty I'm walking out, thanks". I just busted out laughing.

[Demolition Man]

Yes BestBuySux.org is still alive and well. How do I know? Well... I'm the Admin of the message board for the site that's how I know. :D

Anyways I decided to share the letter I wrote back in March 2001 on the site that I wrote under my old alias "Angel C. Little." Here it is... enjoy.

I ask that everything in this be left as is, my e-mail included etc etc... this is a rather long story, hopefully someone can learn a thing or two from it - and maybe just maybe some of those idiots who post over on the pro comments that keep saying that this website sucks will realize why it exsists - for customers/employees who are SICK AND TIRED of being treated like crap by Best Buy. If you don't like it then as The Eagles once sung, "GET OVER IT!" Anyways.. to the story....

Me and my family had been Best Buy customers for many many years. Lets just say that we were customers back when Best Buy was a small company that only exsisted in a few states and were far from being the gigantic poorly run company that it has become. We bought quite a few things from Best Buy during the good ole days - home stereo, CDs, even the first computer that we owned. I can't recall the amount of times we went to Best Buy back then, the service was quite good and so were the prices. BTW.. this is the Northtown aka Blaine #11 location FYI.

Then all hell broke loose....

Early May 1998: I was looking for the hard to find Sting video compilation "Fields Of Gold: The Best Of Sting." Who do I turn to first? Gee... I wonder! #11 had none in stock but another location had one in - person on phone even said that they'd have it transfered to their store and set aside for me. I agreed, left my name/phone and was told within a week at worst. A week passed, not a word. Finally called back - "Oh we called you and got no answer so we put it on the shelf, it sold already." I only said in return that its not good customer service to do this only to recieve "Have a nice day" and the dial tone soon followed. I could of called back and complained to the manager - but what good would it have done. Thankfully a good local music store named CHEAPO managed to have a few copies in stock for a few dollars more than Best Buy's price and I got the video the next day.

Late May 1998: Anyone who lived in Minnesota around May 15th 1998 will certainly recall the powerful storm we got that afternoon/evening that took out the power to most of the Twin Cities and knocked out the local FOX station - okay, and the good ole 486. Called Best Buy, or as I started to call Horror Buy, to see how much it would cost to get it repaired. Our PSP was expired - keep in mind that this PC was bought when their PSP was halfway decent, unlike the one of today where its as good as the toiler paper we wipe our butts with. Brought it in for the estimate, get card back saying $250. Reasonable to keep the aging 486 running for a few more years or whatever. Okayed that. Another card comes a week later now saying $1,000 for the repair. Time to call Mr. Insurance Man to use our insurance plan to help buy a new PC (forgot the name of the plan but its where you pay like $200 and insurance covers the rest).

Everything goes fine until it gets to where Best Buy needs to fax the estimate information to our insurance agent. It took approximentaly two hours and multiple phone calls before someone at Best Buy finally got it that all we needed was for this estimate info to be faxed. *sigh* By now its around the July 4th weekend so its the big sale weekend. We finally decided on the IBM Aptiva 2138-E96, on sale for about $2,000 with 17 inch monitor. Dumbly bought the PSP (I believe this is where BBY really started to push those piece of crap badly). Got pushed a bit on accessories but no bite. Everything went fine during check out, loaded and went home. Week later, same PC on sale for $100 less. Okay... more like 15 days later. We all know Best Buy's policy too - 14 days on computers. I decided, even knowing this, to at least call and give it one kamikazi attempt. Oh, and I got the automated (if you put it that way) response. I would of been more than happy even with a $100 in store credit, but I didn't want to fight for it (sadly because I was tired of the whole situation and just wanted to move on).

From here on we drifted away from Best Buy because of the lack of concern it started to feel upon us about the overall customer service, the feeling that the "Total Solution" as its been called is more important. Well.. shall it be I found myself exactly on July 2nd 2000 back at Best Buy to purchase two DVDs that day - "Tarzan: Collectors Edition" and "The X-Files: Season One Complete." Tarzan was $29, X-Files was $109. A week later I ended up taking back Tarzan because of it freezing in the middle of the movie on its first viewing (the disc somehow during shipping dropped out of the ring that holds it in the box). Cashier says no copies were in and gave back the money no questions asked. Next day was back with my father when I just walked by another copy of XF Season 1 - this one marked $99. I'm outraged and wanted my $10 back, this time I knew for fact that I was within policy - plus I saw it at Wal-Mart for that much too. I couldn't make it back to Best Buy with my copy and reciept until the following Friday along with my mother who tagged along to look at some movies.

I waited in line and finally got up, calmly explained the situation to the woman at the counter. She rung my copy up on the computer then claimed that they never had it for $99. I then nicely asked for a manager - instead I get some jock named Mike. He then tried telling me the same smoke story, I once again asked for a manager but he just refused. Finally my mom came around the area only to see that I was getting no where. At this point Mike was trying to get me to leave the store otherwise he'd call security (btw I didn't threaten, cuss, use violence or anything - is that grounds for this kind of action?). Finally we walked away to a nearby pay phone to call Wal-Mart to verify their price on the set (we hadn't used that factor in this yet). We went back only to run into Mike again at customer service. He just scowed at the both of us, scowed even more when my mother gave him the phone number to Wal-Mart but he went to a phone towards the back of CS and at least tried to give it a good fake to us that he was calling. He came back just two minutes later claiming that they don't sell it and that this situation is done with, that we were to leave the store or he'd call security in, that both me and my mother were being "beligerant." Now I was getting pissed. My voice finally raised up "I demand to speak to a manager NOW." Instead a security buddy of his came up, said that I could no longer be involved in this situation but my mother could.

Meanwhile, this was causing quite a scene as you could imagine. Enough so do draw a manager finally to it (gee... after I got kicked out too). The manager really did call Wal-Mart TWICE to verify and finally got the $10 back. He said that Best Buy "does this all the time" even though at several times Mike insisted that this was against Best Buy policy (I think the manager was trying to save his ass). It took over an hour btw from start to finish. I went over to Circuit City right after this to get the replacement copy of Tarzan Collectors Edition and while getting my copy purchased, I told the guy about what happened. He just laughed and said something to the effect that stuff like that is nothing new with Best Buy and that Circuit City would never do something like that to a customer (which is true, I'd never been treated like crap at CC *EVER*).

I've only been to Best Buy a few times since that fateful day, only when it was something that couldn't be found elsewhere, like the Sting Brand New Day Live DVD a month before it was supposed to be out - hey, I even saw Mike working that day, but no customers to blow his hot temper upon that moment. Otherwise I've really been going to other business like Circuity City, Wal-Mart, and Sam's Club ever since. So a few fellow words to my fellow customers -

A) Don't let some young kid who thinks their a God for wearing that Blue/Yellow shirt play you around.
B) If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is - like do you really think that a printer cable is going to make your computer's hard drive bigger or modem faster? Heck, do you really think that just because a Monster Gold Cable is "Gold" that it will really improve your printers speed? No. I've tried them, and a generic cable and didn't see one bit of improvement.
C) Read the fine print on a PSP/PRP before you buy into it.
D) If all else, shop at a REAL electronics store where they actually know what they are talking about and care about you as a customer - they don't see you as a potential MSN/PSP/Accessories but as a real customer who wants to be treated as such.

To employees who actually care about the customer, don't worry you will be rewarded for your temporary stay in Hell. There is life beyond Best Buy, I've known a few people who has worked for em and trust me, they are beyond happy to be gone from it.

Anyways, thanks for this great site - its will continue to be a great site in regards of a company that has lost touch with what got it on the map to begin with.

[panasonic]

when i was buying a cell phone they told me if i wanted to upgrade to newer model i could and i fell for it. Argh i found out i was misinformed when i returned.

[Claus DuBois]

............I spoke to the Best Buy representitve a few days later............When all was said and done, she told me I will be sent a $50 Best Buy gift card for my troubles and that the corporate office will be contacting my local store..........

Did you buy the extended warranty on the gift card?

[abhinav]

RAWR UBAR BUMPAGE! RAWR!
Hehe i just noticed this comic and it is funny stuff. Same thing happend to my parents many years ago, my dad threatend to call the cops if the sales guy yelled at him one more time. Sad thing is that in the end my parents got the warrenty. Anyways, RAWR yet again.

[waterboy100]

yea. i know how all of you hate being pestered by the extended warrenties. target just started carrying them and i hate it. my GSTL and the LOD want me to push them. i am quietly doing the opposite. people will ask me if i think it is worth it and the answer is always no. if they aske me to elaborate i will. i have had 4 extended warrenties (CD player, MP3 player, TV, and iPod). on the first three i was denied because the peoblem was "my fault." the friggin tv broke after sitting on a shelf for 7 months. how is that my fault?

i will reccomend applecare for the iPods though as i have had my 5G ipod replaced twice (without any processing charges or extra fees) at the apple store, nearly no questions asked.

plus, nearly every credit card will double the mfgr warrenty for free if you keep the reciept.

edit: BTW nice comic.

[lanleague]

yea. i know how all of you hate being pestered by the extended warrenties. target just started carrying them and i hate it. my GSTL and the LOD want me to push them. i am quietly doing the opposite. people will ask me if i think it is worth it and the answer is always no. if they aske me to elaborate i will. i have had 4 extended warrenties (CD player, MP3 player, TV, and iPod). on the first three i was denied because the peoblem was "my fault." the friggin tv broke after sitting on a shelf for 7 months. how is that my fault?

i will reccomend applecare for the iPods though as i have had my 5G ipod replaced twice (without any processing charges or extra fees) at the apple store, nearly no questions asked.

plus, nearly every credit card will double the mfgr warrenty for free if you keep the reciept.

edit: BTW nice comic.

The Target Warranty does cover replacement lamps for HDTVs/Projectors which can be worth it...

[Pookymeister]

The Target Warranty does cover replacement lamps for HDTVs/Projectors which can be worth it...


I bought the $600 warranty at Circuit City for a $3000 tv, and ive had to use it twice - anticipate at least 1 more time.

First time was out of the box ( so i really couldve returned it, but they wouldve been a hassle since i bought it out of state, for no tax).

Second time made it worth it - the picture just went nuts one day and there was a noticeable red cloud in middle of picture. Needed a new light engine, which is pretty much the guts of the tv. The repair guy said i basicallygot a new tv, since the part was new(tv was 2 years old) and he said it costs 2000...which was probably exagerrated.

Third time will be a couple months before warranty is up to get a new lamp, which costs a couple hundred bucks in itself(this is what sold me on the warranty)

[roymustang]

I had a friend of mine who worked at Best Buy and he said he hated it because they put so much pressure on him to get extended warranties. If he didn't get a certain amount per month he was written up for poor perfomance.

[argyle]

I picked up the BB warranty on my projection TV about 3 years ago, and when I needed to use it this year because of some weird spots on the screen, they claimed it was my fault. The tech they sent out told them my kid spilled soda on it - and since I don't have kids, I'm not sure how he came to this conclusion. After arguing with them for a couple of weeks, I got them to refund MOST of the cost I paid for the warranty - but not all, because after all the useless tech had come out...

Needless to say, when they tried to sell me the warranty on my BF purchase, I told them "no".

[SaraAB]

This is why i do not shop at best buy, and i refuse to shop at best buy. Walmart may be evil and all but at least they dont spend 20 min pushing a false/scam warrenty on the customer.

If i was going to purchase a warrenty, i would take a video camera with me to record the sale and record the employee's warrenty selling speech so there would be no questions asked if i had to return the product, if i was misinformed i would have it on video to prove thats what they really said to me. If they did not allow me to videotape the sale then i would be out the door.

Like another poster said the problem is not that they sell warrenties, thats fine and everything, but they outright LIE about what the warrenty covers and then when you try to return a product, they site a loophole in the warrenty. Also i believe they have a clause in the warrenty that mentions "all returns and warrenty replacements subject to manager approval" which basically means they can refuse any warrenty replacement or repair for any reason.

Also make sure this story gets posted to bestbuysux.com

I have NEVER seen a complaint on here about another retailer not honoring a purchased warrenty for a product, not even for gamestop/ebgames, circuit city or any other store. The complaints seem to be totally confined to best buy, which means you should be good at other retailers as long as you take precautions such as saving the reciept and all literature, and keeping the customer service phone number on your cell phone if there is any problem.

But there is a problem here, what if that reciept fades and is inlegible after 2 years, what are you supposed to do then??? I guess scanning it and making a copy could help but then they would tell you its not real or something.

[red flare graf]

Got dayum this is old

[bmsdaddy]

Usually don't buy those plans, got one for an mp3 player awhile back though and ended up using it with little problem. Didn't have to send anything in, got a BB gift card on the spot. Also bought one for my launch 360. The 360 died in September, walked into BB and they gave me a new one no fuss, no muss. Also bought one for my 60" SXRD but haven't had to use it yet.
Of course about ten years ago I bought a 32" CRT TV from them and they tried to sell me a plan and I refused. The guy went off on me to buy one. He even went so far as to tell me that the newer TVs need plasma recharges and that was very expensive. Hell, ten years ago I didn't even know what a plasma TV was! Didn't fall for it though. Finally told the guy to shut up or I was walking. He shut up.

[Quintox]

Interesting read, but it was good of BB to send you a gift card.

Honestly though, I think they might have only done that since you mentioned you ran CAG, but who knows, they probably still would have done it.

[Thongsy]

As always, the policy may be corporate wide, but how management handles things will vary from store to store, the other day, while returning a sound card, some guy who had purchase one of those PSP for his DVD player or something, and they offer to take it in for repairs for two to four weeks, and than when he ask for the manager, they refused even that and told him to leave and didn't care.

[superstevedogg]

I work at Sears and we do get paid commission on selling extended Warrantlies. And we do get paid commission on selling the TV's too. I don't hard sell the warrantees though, cause on most things they aren't even worth it. On the larger scale projection tv's a 3 year plan may only be like 400 bucks, figure if you use the hell out of it for 3 years you will get at least one $250 bulb out of the deal anyways. Still not that great of a deal, but a little bit of piece of mind.

Some of my co-workers like to sell the hell out of them though, it's almost embarassing. I just try to stay at the parity level, so I can at least keep a job.

One thing I don't understand is how people go to Best Buy for stuff, knowing that the people they buy from don't get any real incentive to sell them shit. Whereas you can go to Sears or another place that pays their workers a commission rate. We match prices anyways, better the 30-50ish dollar rip on a TV goes into the workers pocket instead of back to the corporation.

It's my best incentive that you pay the lowest possible price for an item, if I cut 200 bucks off of something via price matching I may only lose 4 bucks. But at least you bought it and I made 20-30 bucks on the item. And then if you decide against any kind of protection agreement, my percentages don't get as messed up(since you spent less).

The 15% replacement agreement(different than the protection one) is usually not that bad of an idea. For 2 years if your item breaks, you just bring it back in, and they replace it with a new or equivalent. It's good on stuff like the shitty low end dvd/vcrs. Stuff you know won't last, this way you don't have to worry about doing anything but bringing it back in and swapping it out.

[getmyrunon]

Sorry to hear all you guys have terrible experiences at your Best Buys. The one I have experience with (East Palo Alto, CA) has always been nice. People are just doing their jobs, but they try to be helpful and friendly about them. Black Friday was actually a great experience there.

[Cloudy Wolf]

you run this site and you honestly thought they would care? and don't give me the $50 gift card as a sign they cared. yeah you got a free $50, but they just bought you off and you took it. i personally wouldn't have settled for anything less than a personal apology from the employee. teach that fuck a lesson. exactly why I don't shop there anymore. not only do they treat you like crap, they know they can and you can't do jack about it. when people stop taking their crap and start supporting other retail chains, maybe they'll begin to focus on customer service. until then...

[CheapyD]

They did care...as you can see from the story, I got a phone call from their head PR person almost immediately after contacting them.

However, I never shopped at BB again after spending that $50 gift card.

Also, we are coming up on the 3 year anniversary of the laptop (the extended warranty would have ended in the next couple of weeks).
I have not had a single problem with it to this day and it is still my only laptop.

[nharmon91]

Good suggestion.

I also thought about purchasing the extended warranty and then smacking him over the head with the laptop and then asking, "Is this covered, biatch?"

Man,I still laugh at this.